How do I detect if the user is on a pc or mobile phone

Question

I am working on a site and working on a component that will take users using wap or xhtml-mp and redirect them to sites specifically setup for those devices. Is there a good standard way of detecting which of these the user is using?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 04 '08 at 15:12

Because no matter what you do you WILL get it wrong sooner or later, each version of the site should include a link to a page where the user can choose an appropriate format. Once they chose, cookie them and, if present, use that cookie as an override to whatever user-agent sniffing would have told you.

In addition to user agent sniffing if your site involves logging in you can store that preference permanently and re-cookie them, if needed, upon login. If it's obvious from the user agent string just use that, if it's not, ask them to choose from a list of your available options and store their choice as the default.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '08 at 15:06

3

There's always the User Agent string. But that means keeping up with all the latest browsers, and differentiating between them isn't always simple.

Instead of redirecting to a completely different page, try using a media selector in your style sheets to tweak your normal content for the smaller screen.

answered Dec 04 '08 at 15:06

Joel Coehoorn

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Its not quite the look we are switching them to a different version of the site its more the data viewed, and formatted. – Tanerax Dec 04 '08 at 15:09

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:30

2

Check this and WURFL.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:30

Community

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answered Dec 05 '08 at 09:54

fravelgue

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 04 '08 at 15:06

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User Agent Sniffing

answered Dec 04 '08 at 15:06

Joachim Sauer

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How do I detect if the user is on a pc or mobile phone

4 Answers4